


Didn't You Know Your World Was Burning?

by Crabbyclaw (strawberrysoap)



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Albino Dave, Alternate Universe - No Sburb Session, Alternate Universe - Steampunk, Alternian Empire, Eventual Happy Ending, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Post-Apocalypse, Trolls on Earth
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-13
Updated: 2016-02-25
Packaged: 2018-04-27 17:17:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5057122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strawberrysoap/pseuds/Crabbyclaw
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Karkat Vantas was sent on an expedition from Alternia with 11 other trolls, to find out what is causing major radiation damage to the Empire, and to escape it. The group of young trolls track it to the planet Earth just outside of the perimeters. On that planet the sun is very unusual, even for Alternia's standards. Especially the inhabitants on the planet; the humans, not to mention one wearing sunglasses. Karkat was expecting something weird to happen, but it wasn't about just the sun anymore. Well, maybe the sun. Or more, about the people getting burned by it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. -Let's Ditch This Planet-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I did already try to write this fic, but it never sounded good. I deleted it to start fresh. It's still not good but hopefully it'll get better. I also changed some things in it, so i will definitely not be the same. The chapters will get longer. But I needed to start this and get it out so it isn't very long either. Hopefully I can get this going.

A loud knock startled a young candy blooded troll from his sleep.

He lifted his head up in surprise, it was too late for anyone to be awake. The sun was still up.

So why the _fuck_  was anyone knocking at his door?

The troll got up, the banging continued until he heard a too familiar voice calling him.

"Karkat! It's time to go, how long does it take for a shut in like you to answer the door?"

_Oh yeah, that._

"Terezi, can you please not wake up the whole fucking neighborhood." the troll, Karkat, attempted to whisper. But failed.

"Ugh, Karkat, why are you being such a kill joy? We're finally getting out of here. Come on, grab your stuff and let's go."  Terezi said dramatically.

 Karkat didn't argue back, it was no time to flirt with Terezi -- it was time to finally leave this lump of rock. This planet just got worse and worse as more time went on. There was litter on every street corner and broken street lamps. The Condense didn't give a flying fuck about this planet, and Karkat used to respect her as a leader. But after time went on and he got older, he realized his stupid his ideals were, and even his dream of becoming a thresecutioner. If she was going to let the planet fall that easily, then she didn't deserve to be leader and he wanted off this planet. He used to have so much pride in this planet, it was sad really. It's not like he was treated fairly anyway, he was a mutant after all. So Feferi was really helping him out here.

Yet, this was hard for him, but he had no choice. The planet was falling at it's seams. He had to leave Kankri too. Despite his efforts he couldn't convince Kankri to come along with all of his friends . Kankri and Karkat both have their friends, and Kankri decided to stay with his. Karkat's trying to be okay with that, even though they didn't always get along.

He can't even mention his custodian. He loved him dearly, even if he was a lot to take care of. Everyone was going to leave someone on this trip. He felt like he would regret something.

Karkat grabbed his bag without another word and walked silently out of his hive. It was still dark out, but it was close to sunset so no trolls would be taking a midnight stroll, for whatever reason they had. They were still in very dangerous territory though. Karkat had to plan this carefully, being the leader of this escapade. 

They turned a corner on the dimly lit streets, a lot of the lights flickered due to them being decades old and unkempt. They were both quiet until they came upon a large fuchsia building. Terezi grinned, not intimidated by its size, and waltzed inside. Karkat hesitated for a moment. He thought about all the consequences,  and what could happen. But he just told himself it would all be worth it in the long run. There is nothing left on this planet excuse of a planet for him. 

Besides, it's not like he had a choice with all of the catastrophic problems on this planet. So, Ferferi had convinced The Condense to let all 11 of his friends leave the planet, for a reason unknown to Karkat, to get them to the edge of the Empire, Earth, and study some unusual shit going on with their weird ass sun. Yet they placed him as the leader anyway. And one crucial detail was left out when Feferi got them the assignment. They didn't ever plan on coming back. As if that wasn't glaringly obvious already though.

Karkat entered through the doorway to the "space station". The Empire was huge, they definitely needed one. It was run down and hadn't been used due to "miscommunication". And damn if Karkat will keep using those air-quotes in his thoughts, there'd be some miscommunication with himself.

Everyone was already in the space station, bag in hand. Sollux was the only one who spoke up,"KK, what took so long? Did your lecturing hivemate hold you back again? Haha I don't care, let's go before the Fish Bitch comes." 

"Wow, thanks Sollux. You're one considerate ass muncher today." Karkat replied sarcastically, but despite his remark, Sollux was right. They needed to go. Even if it gave Karkat an ominous feeling.

He sighed loudly and replied, "Fine, yeah. Grab your shit and lets finally get off this piss filled planet."

A mess of black hair, and unnecessarily large horns popped up next to Karkat, startling him. "Karkat, you need to chill my brother. I know you're leader and all, but you don't wanna pop your head up and shit." 

Oh yeah, his moirail, Gamzee.  

"Can you guys not do this in public? Does decency not exist anymore?" Karkat thought Sollux must be ten times more stressed out than usual, he was being particularly insufferable to him today. At least it's not completely unreasonable. Sollux was going to help pilot the machine, it would deal a lot of stress to his body, but he insisted he wanted to do it, probably to impress Aradia.

Karkat sighed again, "Sollux, shut your liquefied shit-eating pompous mouth and get into the ship." Sollux shot a glare at Karkat, but surprisingly obeyed him and proceeded to get into the dingy ship.

They all clustered into the ship silently, it had a lot of rooms, 13 rooms to be exact. One for each troll, and of course a storage room filled with necessities.

Karkat wasn't going to bring much onto the ship, except for a couple romance novels to keep him occupied, and the full set of The Thresh Prince Of Bel-Air CDs, of course. This journey was going to take well over a year and he would not stand for anything lower than this quality entertainment. 

He didn't want much, just a nice peaceful journey to the edge of the Empire, and freedom. As long as his friends kept all their stupid hormones to themselves, this might have been an enjoyable experience. But just to be sure of staying out of the way of any possible shit storm, Karkat chose a room in the back of the ship. He likes hearing about drama, but he can make the effort to avoid it, especially when he has to get involved. 

He plopped his bag on the ground, the room was standard. It had a bookshelf, bed and computer desk with a chair. Too bad he didn't bring more books.

He walked back out of his room into the middle of the ship. The troll was going to make some sort of speech, even if he felt like puking and he was going to fuck up. 

He coughed, "Everyone listen up. I have to say a few things before this hunk of metal hurtles through space. I know it's going to be shitty confined in here. But you guys are not causing any unnecessary problems and drag me into them. I don't think I could handle half a sweep of 'angst' with you assholes. Lock yourselves in you room if you have to! I don't care what you do with yourselves, just-- don't drag me into it, you'll regret it later." 

Everyone was oddly quiet, other than Sollux, and he found it very unsettling. It usually took a lot to get them to shut up and listen most of the time. 

Either way he didn't wait for any response, he stomped back into his room, grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled something on it. 

'KARKATS ROOM. WHY ARE YOU HERE. TURN AROUND.'

He taped it to his door and went to his new bed to lie down and get his anxiety under control. This was the most relaxed he would get for a while.

This is going to go terribly wrong.


	2. -Let's Deal With Unnecessary Drama!-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What the fuck am I doing?

They had spent more than a couple of months on the ship, Karkat didn't really do anything besides read and occasionally hang out with Kanaya or Gamzee, sometimes even Terezi if he got lucky. It seemed more often than not that he was exhausted from absolutely nothing, he wanted to be active, sure, but he really couldn't find any motivation to do anything besides read or watch a movie. 

Although at that moment, he was feeling a little bit hungry, he had obviously been in his recuperacoon all day, and was a little embarrassed about walking around grimy and looking like he had just gotten in a fist fight. Especially after being gone for so long. With that thought, the troll got up from the hard husk and slime-filled container, shaking off the excess slime that didn't slide off his body. Of course his hair was still drenched in it, so he stomped over to his abulation trap and turned on the water to clean out his disgustingly slimy hair. Once he was done he slid on his usual sweater and sweats. 

Karkat eventually found himself walking through the dim hallways of the space-shuttle to grab some digestible substance from the kitchen, but before he had a chance to grab the tongue rotting "edibles", he heard a loud commotion coming from the common area.

He quickly walked in and talked to the first person he spotted, Sollux, "What the fuck is going on? Why are Terezi and Vriska yelling at eachother." 

Sollux squinted at him, "I don't know, they've just been yelling at each other for an hour. Everyone came out here to watch them. Besides, why do you care, you've been locked up in your block for a couple weeks now."

"Fuck." Karkat cannot _believe_ this is happening.

Sollux is right, maybe he should've started getting involved in everyone's business. Ever since he banned drama, it all escalated through the fucking roof and hasn't stopped overflowing with teen hormones and absolute vomit. Seriously, now's the time to act.

He couldn't really hear either of what they were saying clearly, but once he stood there for a few seconds, it sounded like it had something to do with threatening Tavros and revenge.

Wait.

Go back a step.

Threatening to do what exactly?

To fucking paralyze him.

Immediately after Karkat had realized what they had said, he gave a large huff and got in between them.

"What exactly do you plan on doing here guys?! Tear out each others throats? No, hell no. Not while I'm going to be alive. Now just enlighten me, why exactly do you infected ganderbulbs want to murder each other?"

Terezi spoke before Vriska could yell out another threat, " _She_ wants to hurt Tavros! I mean, I knew Vriska could use him as a punching bag, but this? She's getting out of line Karkat!

Vriska scoffed at her and shoved her away, " _Please_ Terezi, you know he's just a waste of everyone's time! Just LOOK at him! He's pathetic."

"Fuck you Vriska, just because he is weaker than you? Seriously? Oh my god, I can not handle you anymore! I have tried above and beyond to please you and your dumb antics for years!"

And with that, Terezi stormed out of the room. Karkat wasn't really expecting her to blow up like that, she usually didn't. This might actually be something worse.

Vriska glared at the spot that Terezi had left, "Fiiine just walk away Terezi!" 

She looked around and gave a sour look, and left the room to presumably go to her block. 

Everyone else was staring at Karkat at this point. He hesitated to speak. He wasn't really a part of all of this, he had isolated himself for too long. He guessed everyone just listened to him without question. He really was a bad leader, let alone a friend. 

When he had finally fully grasped the whole situation,  he spoke. "What the fuck? When did they start getting like that? Yeah, they're usually at each other's throats, but they've never been _that_  violent."

Tavros then decided to speak nervously, "Uh, it's sorta my fault, um I should've just listened to Vriska--" 

Aradia cut him off, "No, you don't owe her anything. There's a reason Terezi and I decided to finally confront her."

Karkat glanced at her, "You're involved in this too? Shit, I should've just started to talk to everyone, maybe if I actually paid any attention to anyone on this fucking ship, this could have dissolved into thin air. But no, leave it up to Karkat Fucking Vantas to screw everything up again! What a terrible friend I am!"

Aradia sighed, "You don't have to put the blame on yourself every time, you know. This is the only problem that's sprung up, you don't need to worry about it."

"But--" Karkat looked at his feet after being cut off. He could feel his face getting hot.

"Really Karkat. I think we'll be able to handle this."

Karkat looked back up at her, "Fine. I'll attempt to let you handle this, but tell me if they decide to try and murder each other again?" 

"Yup. I'll try."

The red blooded troll was partially satisfied with that for now, Aradia was proven to be a pretty trustworthy person at that point, and didn't make anymore arguments. Although that didn't cancel out any doubt in his mind.

Karkat waved his hands around, "So does anyone else have anything they need to tell me before other people try to commit murder?"

When Karkat got no response for a few seconds, he was ready to leave, but Kanaya gave Karkat a weird look and nodded her head slightly in Gamzee's direction. Karkat wasn't really sure what that was supposed to imply, so he just gave Kanaya a confused look back. 

She shook her head and let out an exasperated sigh, "Karkat, I'm afraid I'll be needing to keep an eye on a certain someone."

"And why would you need to do that?"

Kanaya said uneasily, "That I cannot tell you here, can you please come and speak with me?"

Karkat rolled his eyes, but followed when she had started to walk away into the halls.

"Okay what?"

Kanaya bit her jade lip, "I know this may be hard to believe, but I think Gamzee may be up to something, perhaps in cahoots with someone."

He gave her a disbelieving look and shook his head, "And why would you think that? He's literally just a clown with horns and sopor around him. I don't see any threat he could possibly pose. Like, he's literally sitting around spacing off all day."

"See, I knew you'd react like this," her voice got increasingly distressed as she went on, "Karkat, please just try and let me give you the benefit of the doubt, I really do feel that he's up to something bad."

Karkat held up his hands in defeat, "Alright, okay Kanaya, maybe just this once I'll rely on your weird as fuck instincts. I just hope you're wrong so we don't have to worry about yet another ridiculous problem."

Kanaya smiled at him, "Good, now hopefully I can get some ease around that juggalo. I'll talk with you later, okay?"

She gracefully walked off back into the common area, leaving behind Karkat. He was extremely conflicted with this accusation she made, Gamzee can't be very much trouble, at least not compared to Vriska and Terezi. He was probably going to be okay, right? He's already dealt with him in the past, and he wouldn't put it past himself to do it again.

Gamzee is just a clown after all.

 

* * *

 

 

 

\-- turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering tentacalTherapist [TT] at 14:31-- 

TG: hey rose

TG: so i just found out something that might catch your weird psych-analysis asss attention

TG: which is to say you would basically shit your pants from how exciting this shit is

TG: i mean damn look at this incredible new piece of info i just raked in

TG: its ass is like a bouncing bubble of over excited bees ready to get their honey from the sweetest babe in the city

TG: the sweetest babe is the info i got btw

TG: oh my god holy shit rose

TG: are you jacking off or just knitting

TG: cant be anything else only those two things pick one

TT: Dave, do you have no control over what you choose to type, or do you just really decide to rely on natural impulses?

TT: Either way, what sort of incredibly important piece of "info" did you have to interrupt my session with?

TG: fuck what type of session

TG: you know what i dont even WANT to know

TG: anyway

TG: i got some news from the lab

TT: Oh?

TG: yeah so it turns out that the weird solar flares they were talking about from the green sun are getting bigger

TT: I was already aware of that, but yes, it is a significant piece of information. But it worries me. Dave, they might not stop.

TG:

TG:

TG: they didnt tell me that

TG: what the fuck rose

TG: why didnt they tell me?? thats really important fucking information

TG: like hey dave did you know your world MIGHT burn in a gigantic ball of flames? haha no? thats okay well just have your sister just bounce it on you no big deal

TG: might as well start to build fallout shelters full with secrets and shitty food

TG: come on boys and girls single file now youll all get your fair share of shit potatoes and mystery meat were civilized people down here 

TT: All I know this is pretty fucking bad. I know how you get with these situations, I did grow up with you after all. Just let me handle this and think of something. I'm not going to say it'll be alright, but please, just don't do any reckless shit while I'm gone. I don't need to pay my brother's bail. We'll discuss this when I come back home, okay? I'll think of something.

\-- tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased pestering turntechGodhead [TG] at 14:59--

TG: goddammit rose im not in the mood for bullshit anymore

 

Dave dropped his phone on his chest and observed his ceiling, he had lived with Rose for a month, and it wasn't fucking easy. She had all of these ridiculous rules set up for her house, he can respect some, he wasn't a rude shit, but some went overboard. 

Like one of her "rules" said he had to "sit down for an hour and drink tea with her", or as he liked to call it, getting interrogated on his mental health. She never knew how to mind her own damn business when it came to how his mind ticked. She knew a lot about him too, so that just made it increasingly difficult on himself.

Dave sat up and looked around his room. Since he had only lived here for a short period of time, he didn't quite settle in to the point of his room being a disaster. Not that he really had a reason for it to be anymore. He didn't have to hide away anything from Bro, he and Dirk had it rough from him. But that didn't matter anymore, he was safe.

Well sorta.

Considering the whole fucking planet might explode into flames, he couldn't really feel safe anymore.

It had only been a month in his entire life that he felt safe, and all of it was spent with Rose.

_He had finally had freedom._

_But it was going to be fucking snatched away._

_What was he going to do? What COULD he do?_   _He didn't have any power over this, the people he did know that hold some sort of power was Roxy and Dirk, and they can't just make a whole star just stop existing._

_What can he do?_

_What can he do?_

_oh god._

Dave was starting to feel a prickle on his back and his arms, his arms were weighing him down. 

He slowly curled in on himself, blocking out any light that dared go into his eyes. He didn't want to see any light again. 

_It hurt, it sung._

_It was going to--_

A sudden knock at the front door jolted him out of his panic, Rose was home.

_Thank god._

It took a lot of effort, but he eventually got up from his stupor, slowly unfurling from a curled position. He got off his bed with a thud, and walked downstairs to open the door for his sister. 

When he opened the door, Rose already had a concerned look on her tan face. 

Guess it was a long time to answer huh?

"Dave! Are you okay?"

"Uh, yeah I'm fine. Sorry that took awhile."

Dave moved out of the way to let Rose in, she had hastily set her stuff she was holding in her hands down on the coffee table and sat on the sofa. When did she have stuff in her hands? What even were those things? They looked extremely complicated and scientific, two things Dave didn't really know about. 

Dave kinda spaced out while she was doing that, and was snapped out of his thoughts when she spoke to him.

"I believe we need to talk about the situation at hand." She paused, "Hmm, you do know that Roxy and Dirk will do what they can, but they really can't _do_ much of anything. So.." She trailed off, "I propose we find out our own way to stop it, I gathered this equipment to help us with the task." Dave eyed it warily. "And I can see you ogling it, but it's not as complicated as it seems. It just has to be precise when we do use it, or we'll fail."

"Where did you even find all of this shit? Did you seriously smuggle it from the science facility?" 

Rose shook her head, "No, Roxy and Mom would murder me if I did, I located it in some abandoned factory that used to supply for the science facility."

"Oh. Why would they just leave that shit lying around?"

"I wouldn't know, honestly it just baffles me how they could leave such quality equipment in an old rusty building. I'm quite jealous actually."

Dave snorted, "So what exactly do you plan on doing Miss Prissy Quip?"

Rose looked Dave straight in the eye, despite having sunglasses and said, dead serious,

"We're going to blow up the Green Sun."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this fic hasn't updated in a month or two, I will actually try to make a god dammed schedule. I think I'll update this every Sunday, and we'll see where this goes from there. And I'd also like to mention that coding pesterlogs are a pain in the ass, but they all ended up pretty decent so I'll make an exception of them. If you want more shitty Davekat related stuff, check out my disgusting [Tumblr](%E2%80%9D<) because I draw on there.


End file.
